When we think of the great bass players
in jazz, generative composer/leaders such as Charles Mingus
and Charlie Haden, a distinctive approach and a distinctive
sound come to mind. That's what happens when you mention
the name of bassist, composer, and leader Michael Bisio.

The critics, out in front for once,
already know about Michael. His second album as a leader, In
Seattle (Silkheart), made the Village Voice "Best
Jazz Records of the 1980's," as well as critic Kevin
Whitehead's 1988 Top 10 for National Public Radio. The Penguin
Guide to Jazz described In Seattle as "an
exemplary instance of the kind of contemporary jazz being
created away from the principal American centres." And
Paul de Barros, in his Northwest regional jazz history, Jackson
Street After Hours, singled out Bisio as one of the
preeminent heirs to Seattle's earthy, yet innovative, tradition.

First and foremost, Bisio is an artist. "It
actually took me a while to figure this out," confesses
the emotionally intense, articulate bassist, who came to
Seattle in 1976 from his home town of Troy, New York. "I
mean, it's one thing to be a professional musician. Which
I am. I've made my living playing this music since I was
in college. But it's another thing to think of yourself
as a professional artist. You make different decisions."

What that has meant for Michael is
taking time to develop his own music as a leader and composer,
where others might have concentrated on how to get to the
next casual gig. Though it has been a struggle, this attention
to detail and passion for purity has paid off.

In a flurry of activity over the last
ten years, Bisio has played and/or recorded with Barbara
Donald, Wayne Horvitz, Bob Nell, Andrew Hill, Sonny Simmons,
John Tchicai, Bern Nix, Jim Nolet, Joe McPhee, Vinny Golia,
Van Manakas, Greg Bendian, Carter Jefferson, Charles Gayle,
and Marilyn Crispell. He has crossed the country twice
with Gayle and toured the West Coast with his own quartet.

What these noted leaders all find in
Bisio is a gutsy, honest style and what the poet Garcia
Lorca called duende, best translated as soul, or heart.
His sound recalls the reverent and warm melodicism of Charlie
Haden. Like Haden, he uses gut strings and mikes his bass
directly, with no electronic mediation. But Bisio also
has no problem venturing "out" into the textural
energy zones defined by "new thing" jazzers in
the 1960's. As a composer, his work is marked by a spare,
bluesy sound, the sweet-and-sour timbres favored by Charles
Mingus.

Former Down Beat editor Art
Lange, upon hearing Michael at the 1994 Du Maurier Jazz
Festival, remarked: "Bisio's wailing arco bass
was reminiscent of David Izenzon with Ornette Coleman."

That was a good call. Like Izenzon,
Bisio is one of those wild and wooly guys of the edge who
also has a rock-solid musical foundation. Bisio began his
life behind the big violin with David Cobb, Professor of
Bass at the State University of New York at Albany (SUNYA),
winning scholarships to the Congress of Strings and the
Chautauqua Institute of Fine Arts, then went on to earn
a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Washington
(UW), in 1979, where he studied under Seattle Symphony
Orchestra bassist James Harnett. At the UW Bisio played
jazz, classical, and new music, the latter with the Contemporary
Group, co-led by William O. Smith (aka Bill Smith, clarinetist
with Dave Brubeck), and trombonist Stuart Dempster.

A fine and sensitive reader, like Wynton
Marsalis, Bisio can cut it with the classical cats. For
many years, he subbed and toured with the Northwest Chamber
Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Pacific Northwest Ballet,
and Royal Winnipeg Ballet.

It was in the 1980's that Michael began
making his mark in jazz, as a part of a nexus of open-eared,
soulful, deep-in-the-tradition Northwest jazzers that includes
Bob Nell, Barbara Donald, Jack Walrath, and Bert Wilson.
Donald, the fiery trumpet player whose '60's recordings
with Sonny Simmons had made her a legend, noticed Bisio
first, using him on gigs for six years and on her comeback
recording, The Past and Tomorrow (Cadence, 1983).
In the meantime, Bisio organized his own quintet with Montana-based
pianist Bob Nell, saxophonist Rick Mandyck, drummer John
Bishop, trumpeter Ron Soderstrom and violinist/pianist
Beth Chandler. In 1983, they made an auspicious debut recording, Ours (CT
Records). Cadence editor Bob Rusch picked Ours as
an Editor's Choice for the year, while the magazine interviewer,
Alan Bargebuhr, wrote: "I was unprepared for the power
and beauty of this disc." Paul de Barros said, "This
is the best album to come out of Seattle in ages - tough,
committed jazz, executed with assurance and authority."

As Michael's reputation grew in the
Northwest, he was chosen as Artist in Residence by the
Washington State Arts Commission and recruited for the
first concert series ever presented by Seattle's now well-known
non-profit organization, Earshot Jazz.

In 1986, Bisio began rehearsing a pianoless
quartet, with Soderstrom, Mandyck, and drummer Teo Sutton.
Their 1987 CD, In Seattle,
issued on the Swedish Silkheart label, established Bisio's
reputation internationally as a composer and player who
bridged the gap between "inside" and "outside." In
Seattle was a runaway success. Lee Jeske
picked it as a "Jazz Feature" for Cash Box,
and Cadence, Coda and the Village
Voice all praised it highly, as well. Bisio had begun
to be noticed.

Not long after In
Seattle, Bisio's quartet dissolved, and a
period of great scuffling ensued. the bassist picked
up some classical gigs, and worked with the great ex-Count
Basie bassist Buddy Catlett, who had started a group
in which he returned to his original reed instruments.
Bisio also worked during this period in a fine piano
trio led by Wayne Horvitz, who had recently moved from
New York to Seattle, and with Horvitz's New York Composer's
Orchestra West. A highlight of 1990 was a commissioned
performance by the International Creative Music Orchestra,
at Seattle's Earshot Jazz Festival, with Horvitz, Andrew
Cyrille, Larry Ochs, and other musicians from around
the world.

A call from the fierce improvising
reed man Charles Gayle in 1993 led to an enthusiastically
received West Coast tour of the Charles Gayle Trio and
a subsequent criss-cross of the country.

1994 found Michael Bisio performing
in Seattle with Bern Nix and Jim Nolet at the Earshot World
Jazz Festival; in a new group with Northwest musicians
Bob Nell (piano), Eyvind Kang (violin), Rob Blakeslee (trumpet),
and Ed Pias (drums); and with New York drummer Phil Haynes
on a variety of gigs at the du Maurier Jazz Festival, backing
up Marilyn Crispell, John Tchicai, Glenna Powrie, Charles
Gayle, and others. Both John Corbett, writing for Wire magazine,
and Kevin Whitehead, reviewing for Coda, praised
Bisio for his versatility and sensitivity there.

In 1995, Bisio's abundant talent was
recognized by Artist Trust, a Washington state arts support
organization, which awarded him a GAP grant, and by the
Jack Straw Foundation, which gave him an award through
its Artist Support Program.

On September 20, 1996, Michael was
invited to perform in a concert celebrating Albert Ayler's
60th birthday at the Washington Square Church in New York
City. He played there in a quartet with Joe McPhee, Jim
Nolet, and Deidre Murray; and in the finale with Joseph
Jarman, Amiri Baraka, Joe McPhee, Jim Nolet, and Sunny
Murray.

A 1996 Golden Ear Award was presented
by Earshot Jazz to Michael for Best Northwest Jazz Recording
for his CD Covert Choreography, by the Michael
Bisio Quintet. That same year the quintet performed at
the du Maurier Jazz Festival, to rave reviews.

1997 found Michael returning to the
du Maurier festival, this time in a duo format with violinist
Eyvind Kang. "The string duo charmed a packed house
with an endless stream of melodies and improvisations," wrote
Phillip McNally in Earshot Jazz. In July of 1997,
Michael toured the east coast with jazz legend Joe McPhee.
This was a totally inspired, critically acclaimed trip
based on the strength of their duo recording for CIMP, Finger
Wigglers. A Seattle concert later that year would
earn a 1997 Golden Ear Award for Concert of the Year, and
a place, the fourth of ten concerts chosen, in Paul DeBarros' "Jazz
Inside Out: Best Sounds of '97" article for the Seattle
Times.

July of '98 saw Michael and Joe recording
their second duo disc for CIMP. Zebulon was released
early in 1999. Michael was also awarded a GAP grant through
Artist Trust to record with Eyvind Kang.

Today, Michael Bisio continues to tour
and compose music for solo, duo, trio, and quartet. One
of a long line of bassists to thrive in the Northwest -
Glen Moore, David Friesen, Buddy Catlett, Freddy Schreiber,
and Gary Peacock are a few of the others - Bisio is living
up to all the expectations.

Michael Bisio recently made his debut
on OmniTone with the album Undulations.